Monday, July 21, 2008

They're at it again ...

... this time in Dayton, Ohio. Police in that Midwest city tasered a blind lady in her own home.So, here's the situation. The police show up to this woman's house looking for her son. She is on the telephone when they get there. They obviously ask for her son, everybody heard the woman say that her son was not there. The woman says that the officers tried to make her get off the phone and when she told them no, they grabbed her and threw her on the futon. At some point, the woman ends up on the floor and an officer uses a taser on her.Because the name of the game is CYA (cover yo' ass), of course the police are saying that she was combative when she opened the door and claims that she punched one of the officers. The police spokesman says,"She was able to force herself down on to the floor and not be cooperative, grabbing on to the detective. A taser was dry stunned onto her arm to control her hand movement, then she was cuffed."Keep in mind that this woman is blind and neighbors and family members say that she was robbed and assaulted by someone who knocked on her door claiming to be the police. So if she was swinging on them, she was justified.Not only is this woman blind, she is also sick. She also has cancer. I don't know what kind because that has not been reported. But regardless, that taser had to wreak havoc on whatever kind of treatment she's been receiving.For those of you who don't know, a taser is a weapon used to push electroshock waves through a person's body to cause muscle contractions or spasms to render the person incapacitated. So in other words, the thing shocks you into submission. It is called "less-lethal" force because in theory it won't kill the person on the receiving end of all that voltage and there are no stray bullets so bystanders won't get hit.

It is true that bystanders won't get hit but I don't know about it being less lethal. It's certainly not humane. I don't know if you've ever had a muscle spasm but that crap is no walk in the park. Muscle spasms are violent, involuntary episodes that you have have to endure until they are over. Why would anyone want to inflict that on anyone is beyond me.Granted, if someone is coming at you swinging a weapon or you know that they are coming toward you and can actually cause harm, that is one thing. But to use a taser on someone you can control with a side step or a simple hold it ridiculous.During my sabbatical from journalism in 2006, I worked with kids with behavior problems and granted I did want to shoot those bad a-- kids with something but there are ways to restrain folks without using voltage. I know grown people, in theory, are bigger and stronger than kids. But, those same holds work on grown people too.I don't understand why the cops are so taser happy. I think if they all had to take a taser in the ass they'd be a little less likely to use that dang thing on people at the drop of a hat.I hope that lady sues the city and gets enough money to pay her medical bills and then some! ***SMH***That just don't make no damn sense!!!

4 comments:

I really get tired of police officers acting without thinking. This is getting ridiculous. Someone has got to do something about this because innocent people who are simply respectfully responding to police officers are in danger. It doesn't make sense.